Holly Moore: Rally This Weekend Calls for Fresh Investigation of Teen's Death

On Sunday, March 5, relatives of Holly Lynn Moore will join friends and supporters in a procession, on foot and motorcyles, around the perimeter of the Outlets at Castle Rock shopping mall, marking the second anniversary of the nineteen-year-old's death.

It sounds like a strange way to commemorate what local authorities have ruled was a suicide. But then, Moore's father, sister and close friends say they have good reason to believe the official story is all wrong.

As we previously reported, Moore was found hanging in a closet in her apartment on March 6, 2015. Castle Rock detectives say the "totality of the evidence" points to suicide. A busy freshman at the University of Colorado Denver, Moore was also helping to care for her quadriplegic mother in her battle with multiple sclerosis. She was on antidepressants, and the crime scene was clean and orderly, giving no indication of a violent struggle. But family members have spent months and thousands of dollars uncovering evidence that suggests Moore's death may have been murder, and their findings have generated a rush of media attention, including a recent piece on Moore on the Discovery ID channel that's attracted nearly a million views.

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Among the details that Moore's family believes warrant more investigation: In the weeks leading up to her death, Moore had several confrontations with an abusive ex-boyfriend, who had been observed on at least two occasions choking her. Holly's sister April filed for a restraining order against the ex because of alleged threats, and a threatening message from him was found on Moore's voicemail.

Authorities say the ex has alibi witnesses for the night Moore died. The family maintains that police failed to nail down his whereabouts that night or verify his cell phone's location during a flurry of text messages he exchanged with Moore's phone. Forensic analysts, hired at the family's expense, found that Moore had a broken collarbone that may have been incurred during a struggle — an injury that would have made it difficult to hang herself — as well as evidence at the crime scene that suggests the body had been moved after death.

According to a press release, Holly's dad, Ray Moore, is selling his house to pay for additional DNA testing of crime-scene materials. The family is working with the Colorado-based Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons and has launched a nonprofit, Truth to Light, to bring attention to the case and other suspicious deaths.

Alan Prendergast has been writing for Westword for over thirty years. He teaches journalism at Colorado College; his stories about the justice system, historic crimes, high-security prisons and death by misadventure have won numerous awards and appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies.

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